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Hello there! I'm Kathleen, a former art teacher and co-creator of two young boys. I'm perpetually in search of creative ways to spice up our daily lives, and always in search of a good cup of coffee and a knitting project. Join us in our adventures in making and doing, and making do.

April 22, 2011

Decoupaged Laundry Room Art

Springtime always inspires me to start sprucing up the house and updating our living space. I have about a half-dozen projects going on both in my mind and in the house right now, and am excited to share with you one that I actually finished.

I used Elmer's Glue products to complete the project, as well as an X-Acto knife (best tool ever!) to create this simple artwork for my laundry room, a room which is in need of a little facelift.

Elmer's has complied a really wonderful Spring Creation Guide (it's in PDF form), which has so many interesting and inspiring projects that go beyond the construction paper bunnies that you're probably used to seeing with their products.

Have you ever decoupaged with Elmer's products? They have a tutorial for a decoupaged table on their website that has my brain flooded with possibilities for projects in my home. Though a laundry makeover might require a projects like this Laundry Jar, which is rated easy on Elmer's scale.

So back to my project. I took a blank canvas from the craft store, and decided to make a simple, modern artwork that is befitting of the laundry room. I intended on doing a large clothespin, but was not happy with how my design was coming along. The hanger seemed like an appropriate image for laundry, and was so simple to make.

STEP ONE
Paint your canvas whatever color you wish, preferably one that coordinates with your decorative paper. In my case, I wanted my image to pop out, so I chose black.

Two coats should work nicely. I painted the first one horizontally, and once dry, painted another coat vertically, to make the texture look a bit like linen.

STEP TWO
Lay out your large sheet of paper. It really only needs to be a scrap piece, even with writing on it, since we'll be gluing on top of it. Admit it--you're diggin' my old Dot Matrix printer paper.

Then using your decorative paper, start tearing long strips of the different papers. I like the ragged edge effect, which is what you're going for.

This is a great way to use up scraps. I then arranged my papers on my background paper, to figure out the pattern I wanted to make.

I like how it looks like denim jeans.

STEP THREE
With your Elmer's Glue Stick, glue your papers into place.

I started at one end, then overlapped each torn piece until I reached the other end.

Here's the finished sheet of paper.

STEP FOUR
Next, I found a hanger whose shape I liked, and made sure its silhouette would fit on the paper.

You could certainly trace another object, or search online for "silhouette clip art" and enlarge an image you liked. I think this would make a nice project for a kids' room, with an initial or even a silhouette of the child's favorite animal.

For the hanger, I simply flipped the paper over on the back and carefully traced the hanger with a pencil.

STEP FIVE
With the X-Acto knife (or scissors), carefully cut out your silhouette.

Ta da! Paper hanger.

STEP SIX
Time to decoupage. Your canvas should be dry before this step. With the Elmer's Glue All, I made a solution of 3 parts Elmer's to 1 part water (for this project, 3 tbsp. Elmer's/1 tbsp. water worked fine) and mixed it with a foam brush.

Then I spread it over the canvas, centered the hanger on top where I wanted it, and spread another thin layer over the hanger and canvas.

When dry, I added another thin layer, just for good measure. Then I was ready to hang it after I let it sit overnight.

I love how it turned out!

I saved the scraps too, for another silhouette project. I could easily become a decoupage addict.

Disclosure: Elmer's sent me some of their glue products, an X-Acto knife, and a gift card for purchasing craft items to create a craft and post about it.

I would love to make the kitchen memo board! I LOVE your laundry room project and would love for you to link this up to my Inspire-me Mondays Blog Party at Homemaker in Heels! Have a great week! http://www.homemakerinheels.com/2011/04/inspire-me-monday-week-1-is-here-come.htmlBlessings~Crysta